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Carbide
Carbide is an invertible heavyweight which competed in Series 8-10 of Robot Wars, reaching the Grand Final each time. It came Runner-Up in the 8th and 10th Series and won the 9th. It was built by Dave Moulds, who was previouslya a member of Team Hurtz in Battlebots, as well as Sam Smith, who had previously competed in Robot Wars with Tiberius. Carbide's weapon is the most powerful bar spinner in Robot Wars history, measuring 85cm in length, weighing 25kg and spinning at 2300RPM. The weapon operates at 20 horsepower to inflict massive damage. Carbide's armour consists of 5mm military grade steel, and 8mm aerospace grade aluminium. According to the Robot Wars website, Team Carbide rated their chances of winning the series at '10 out of 10', and the robot featured heavily in promotional trailers. The BBC also listed Carbide as one of the most destructive robot in the series claiming the spinning bar delivers more energy at the tip than a "sniper bullet". Carbide was put on display at a Live Event in Stevenage after Series 8. Robot History Series 8 Carbide appeared in Episode 1, where it was drawn against the experienced Behemoth, new machine from former heat winners Bonk, and Third Wars footballer, The General. in its first-round melee. Although it sustained an initial slam from Bonk, Carbide was free to target the opponents of its choice in the first round, with Behemoth specifically avoiding it. Carbide landed its first blow on the exposed tyres of The General, knocking it back. Carbide's spinning bar spent a brief moment inactive after this, and needed to dodge its opponents, but when back at full speed Carbide charged into The General, removing its tyre completely, and also hitting Bonk with the same blow, immobilising it. Essentially victorious at this stage, Carbide glazed Behemoth's scoop before hitting The General one last time, and then landing some full-power blows to the now-inverted Bonk. Carbide qualified alongside Behemoth. After its first round battle, it was revealed that Carbide's weapon motor had broken, and its team struggled to repair it in time for their next match. However, after some help from John Reid, the motor was fixed in time for Carbide's first battle of the head-to-head stage, against John Reid's own Terrorhurtz. In preparation, Team Carbide added an extra layer of polycarbonate to the top of their robot, as protection from Terrorhurtz's axe, which ironically never worked in the following battle. On the very first charge, Carbide's blade clashed with Terrorhurtz's scoop, sending Carbide reeling into the air, and bounced upside-down when it landed. Carbide was pushed around the arena by Terrorhurtz, although it usually landed a blow on Terrorhurtz's scoop at the same time, bending the HARDOX wedge. Carbide was pushed into the arena wall, pit release tyre, and flame pit. Carbide was unable to drive off the flame pit, so after being burnt, it was freed by Sir Killalot. Regardless, Carbide could not move freely, and Terrorhurtz pushed it onto the lip of the pit. Carbide span its blade up to full speed as a form of defence, but was pitted regardless. Carbide was then drawn against newcomer Nuts. Despite the team claiming they would only do what was necessary, Carbide did not hold back, and landed two blows within the first few seconds, and disabled one of Nuts' minibots. The third attack from Carbide was a major blow which removed Nuts’ outer rim, as well as literal nuts and bolts, leaving them with no weaponry. Carbide was required to catch a fleeing Nuts, and when it did, two hits threw Nuts towards Sir Killalot. Another blow from Carbide threw Nuts through the air into the pit release at incredible speeds, and the following hit removed Nuts' wheel and put it out of the arena completely. Nuts was counted out, while Carbide chased a minibot and disabled its movement on one side. Carbide was awarded 3 points for its dominant win. During the battle, Carbide had flung a shard of Nuts' armour towards Dara Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon's CPZ, the subject of several news articles. In its final head-to-head, Carbide met Behemoth for the second time. Carbide wasted no time, and struck Behemoth, sending the large robot spinning away, while Carbide was the robot thrown airborne on its second and third attacks. Spinning around, Carbide landed some lighter blows, still generating many sparks. A slice through Behemoth's scoop was clearly visible, before Carbide's biggest attack yet disabled Behemoth's scoop completely, with a follow-up hit knocking it over. With its srimech already extended, Behemoth could not self-right before Carbide had already pushed it into the pit. With 6 points, Carbide had qualified for the heat final, where it would meet Behemoth once again. In the third meeting between the two, Carbide's very first hit seemed to limit Behemoth's mobility. Carbide landed further blows upon Behemoth, most of which caused Behemoth to remain immobile for seconds at a time before making another small movement. Carbide pressed the pit release, with Behemoth sat right beside it. Thinking its opponent was defeated, Carbide halted its spinning blade, and drove onto Behemoth's scoop to push it towards the pit, though Behemoth flipped in retaliation. Carbide retreated, as Behemoth could only move in circles until Carbide drew nearer, at which point Behemoth reversed into the pit, allowing Carbide to qualify for the Grand Final. In its Grand Final group battle, Carbide faced Apollo and Shockwave. The battle was short, but incredibly destructive. Team Carbide acted on their pre-battle tactics and immediately hit Shockwave, only for Shockwave to get underneath Carbide and push it into Shunt's CPZ, where it spun and hit the side wall blade-first. The impact tore off one of the wall panels, stopping the battle early due to safety concerns. However, before 'cease' was called, Carbide slammed into Shockwave's right-hand side, tearing its side panel apart and causing its rear wheel to become dislodged, before being flipped by Apollo. The battle was due to be restarted once repairs were completed, but Shockwave withdrew due to the damage inflicted by Carbide, so Carbide and Apollo advanced to the next round. In the Head to Heads, Carbide first faced wildcard Thor. It deflected Thor's initial charge, and after its opponent was flipped by the Floor Flipper, began hammering and tearing into Thor's armour, ripping off its side panels and buckling, then tearing off, its front 'anti-Carbide plate'. Carbide steered into Shunt’s front scoop, before charging at Thor again, tearing through Thor’s front wedge and sending it spinning on its side. Another hit threw Thor over as it tried to swing its axe, and despite self-righting, Thor became immobilised after sustaining more hits from Carbide’s blade, which tore more gashes into its armour and ripped one of its wheels loose. Carbide scored three points for this commanding victory. Next, it faced Apollo. Apollo charged straight into Carbide, turning it over through the recoil of its opponent’s blade. However, a second blow immobilised Apollo completely, with Carbide hitting it again and rebounding into Shunt. In the dying seconds, Carbide approached Apollo, and despite Team MAD persuading Team Carbide not to cause any more damage, hit its side as ‘cease’ was called. After the battle, Team MAD appeared to be disappointed with the extra damage inflicted by Carbide. However, this victory gave Carbide another three points, enough to secure it its place in the Final. In its third and final Head to Head, Carbide faced the flipper of TR2. Carbide began strongly, ripping parts of TR2’s armour off and causing it to spin into Sir Killalot’s CPZ. It hit TR2 again as it tried to dodge Sir Killalot, leaving a gash in its flipper and sending it flying onto the Flame Pit. However, Carbide's blade stopped spinning as TR2 pressed the pit release button, with TR2 flipping it over and pushing it into the wall, almost propping Carbide up against it. After a few more flips from TR2, Carbide retreated, with TR2 following it around the arena, only to drive onto the Floor Flipper three times in an attempt to re-right itself. TR2 pushed Carbide over the Flame Pit and flipped it again, but failed to flip it over, so it pushed and flipped it into Shunt. Carbide retaliated by charging into TR2, steering it around as Shunt closed in. TR2 landed another flip on Carbide, before driving round the perimeter of the arena and pushing it towards Shunt again, who rammed Carbide against the wall twice and axed its underside. Another couple of shoves from TR2 saw Carbide slammed into Shunt again, who axed it again and propped it against the wall in the closing seconds. The judges' decision unanimously went in favour of TR2, while Dave Moulds revealed in the pits afterwards that one of Carbide’s clutch plates had disintegrated, causing its weapon to fail. Even so, Carbide still scored enough points to secure its place in the Final, where it faced Apollo once again. As before, Apollo charged straight underneath Carbide, tipping it onto its side and deflecting it into Sir Killalot, who grasped it with his claw before Apollo flipped it up against the wall. Carbide recovered, landing a few blows on Apollo which dislodged one of its top panels, before a violent hit sent both robots spinning. Carbide tore another of Apollo's panels off, but its weapon motor burnt out as Apollo launched it into the air, the blade stopping completely as Carbide hit the floor. With its weapon disabled, Carbide was left helpless as Apollo flipped it several times around the arena, almost being thrown out at one point. Eventually, Carbide pressed the pit release button, almost getting flipped by the Floor Flipper as it rode up Apollo’s wedge again. The two machines continued nudging each other, with Apollo getting under and flipping itself onto its back trying to flip Carbide again. Carbide was flipped again close to the pit release, but escaped as Sir Killalot closed in to attack both it and Apollo. Apollo's flipper was wedged open by this point, but it used the open flipper to grab hold of Carbide and push it into Shunt. Carbide steered out of Shunt’s CPZ, then got flipped by Apollo again, before cornering Apollo into Shunt as it sustained damage from the House Robot. It chased Apollo around as it drove around the edge of the pit, before riding up Apollo and closing its flipper. Carbide steered Apollo into a CPZ before getting flipped by the Floor Flipper, than after one last flip Apollo grabbed hold of Carbide again and pushed it into Shunt, who axed Carbide’s underside as time ran out. The battle went to a judges’ decision, with both robots suffering equal amounts of damage and having lost use of their weapons. However, after a close and thrilling fight, the judges unanimously voted for Apollo, with Carbide emerging as runners-up. Series 9 Results Wins/Losses *Wins: 22 *Losses: 5 Category:Competitors Category:UK Robot Wars Competitors Category:Heavyweight Robots Category:British Robots Category:Robots with heavy rotating blades Category:Invertible Robots Category:UK Robot Wars Grand-Finalists Category:Robots with more wins than losses Category:Robot Wars 2016 competitors Category:Runners Up Category:Robots with Horizontal Spinning Bars Category:Crowd favorites Category:Robots from Derbyshire Category:Robot Wars 2017 competitors Category:Champions Category:Heavyweight Champions Category:UK Robot Wars Champions Category:Robots in The Combat Robot Hall of Fame Category:Robot Wars Series 10 Robots Category:Robots that never failed to reach the Finals Category:Robots to finish in the Top 4 Category:Robots which have damaged the arena